Paragraph Alignment Detection and Region-Based Section Reconstruction

1. A method for converting a fixed format document into a flow format document, said method comprising the acts of: detecting an alignment of text forming a single line paragraph on a page in a fixed format document, the detecting including: defining a boundary box around the single line paragraph; performing a first comparison of a position value of a left edge of the bounding box to a position value of a left margin of the page and performing a second comparison of a position value of a right edge of the bounding box to a position value of a right margin of the page; identifying a justified alignment if the results of the first and second comparisons are substantially equivalent; when the results of the first and second comparisons are not substantially equivalent, performing: identifying a left alignment based on comparing a coordinate value of the left edge of the bounding box to a coordinate value of a left edge of a bounding box of another paragraph on the page; and displaying the text in a flow format document as a single line paragraph having the identified alignment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein, when the results of the first and second comparisons are not substantially equivalent, and neither the justified alignment nor the left alignment are identified, additionally performing: a comparison of a left indentation value of the single line paragraph to a right indentation value of the single line paragraph; identifying a centered alignment, when the comparison indicates that the left indentation value and the right indentation value are substantially equivalent; and identifying a right alignment, when the comparison indicate that the left indentation value and the right indentation value are not substantially equivalent.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the another paragraph comprises a multi-line paragraph.

4. A system for converting a fixed format document into a flow format document, said system comprising a document processor operable to: detecting an alignment of text forming a single line paragraph on a page in a fixed format document, the detecting including: defining a boundary box around the single line paragraph; performing a first comparison of a position value of a left edge of the bounding box to a position value of a left margin of the page and performing a second comparison of a position value of a right edge of the bounding box to a position value of a right margin of the page; identifying a justified alignment if the results of the first and second comparisons are substantially equivalent; when the results of the first and second comparisons are not substantially equivalent, performing: identifying a left alignment based on comparing a coordinate value of the left edge of the bounding box to a coordinate value of a left edge of a bounding box of another paragraph on the page; and displaying the text in a flow format document as a single line paragraph having the identified alignment.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein, when the results of the first and second comparisons are not substantially equivalent, and neither the justified alignment nor the left alignment are identified, additionally performing: a comparison of a left indentation value of the single line paragraph to a right indentation value of the single line paragraph; identifying a centered alignment, when the comparison indicates that the left indentation value and the right indentation value are substantially equivalent; and identifying a right alignment, when the comparison indicate that the left indentation value and the right indentation value are not substantially equivalent.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the another paragraph comprises a multi-line paragraph.

7. A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, perform a method for converting a fixed format document into a flow format document, said method comprising the acts of: detecting the alignment of text forming a single line paragraph on a page in a fixed format document, the detecting including: defining a boundary box around the single line paragraph; performing a first comparison of a position value of a left edge of the bounding box to a position value of a left margin of the page and performing a second comparison of a position value of a right edge of the bounding box to a position value of a right margin of the page; identifying a justified alignment if the results of the first and second comparisons are substantially equivalent; when the results of the first and second comparisons are not substantially equivalent, performing: identifying a left alignment based on comparing a coordinate value of the left edge of the bounding box to a coordinate value of a left edge of a bounding box of another paragraph on the page; and displaying the text in a flow format document as a single line paragraph having the identified alignment.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7 wherein defining the boundary box includes defining a smallest bounding box that contains all of the visible characters of the text in the single line paragraph.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein, when the results of the first and second comparisons are not substantially equivalent, and neither the justified alignment nor the left alignment are identified, additionally performing: a comparison of a left indentation value of the single line paragraph to a right indentation value of the single line paragraph; identifying a centered alignment, when the comparison indicates that the left indentation value and the right indentation value are substantially equivalent; and identifying a right alignment, when the comparison indicate that the left indentation value and the right indentation value are not substantially equivalent.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the another paragraph comprises a multi-line paragraph.